🍄🍄🍄What are the benefits of having chidren and not having children?

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“Is life better with children, or without them?”

After reading this topic I've thought about it specifically.

As you know,first, life without children can be very free.
You have more time, more money, and more flexibility.
You can travel whenever you want.
You can change jobs easily.
Your life can move quickly, like a small boat that can turn in any direction.
For some people, that kind of freedom is wonderful.

But life with children is very different.
It is usually harder.
You spend more money.
You lose some personal freedom.
And you have a lot of responsibility.
But something else appears.

You experience a very deep relationship.
You feel that your life is connected to the future.
Some parents might say something interesting:
“Before children, I lived only my own life.
After children, I started living across generations.”

Then someone brought up an evolutionary idea.
From a biological point of view, all living things have one basic goal:
to pass their genes to the next generation.

In a way, every human being is part of a very long relay race of life.

Actually, life on Earth has been passing the baton for about four billion years.
So having children is not only a personal decision.
It is also part of that long chain of life.

But here is another interesting thing.
Psychologists say that our idea of happiness changes as we get older.

When we are young, happiness often means:
success, achievement, money, and possibilities.
But later in life, happiness becomes something else.
It becomes:
relationships, peace, and meaning.

As I grow older and enter my senior years, I find myself deeply relating to this conclusion..

As it happens, I have two sons.
They are both working now and have started their own families.
Since they live independently and are doing well, my spouse and I are also able to enjoy a similar sense of freedom and ease in our lives even though we have kids..

Looking back on our own story, after several years of dating and more than forty years of marriage, I feel that we have grown together.
Rather than one plus one simply becoming two, it sometimes feels as if our lives have grown exponentially together.

And doctors who work with people at the end of life say something very touching.
When people are about to leave this world, they rarely talk about money or success.

Most of their last words are simple:
“I love you.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry.”

In the end, people remember people.

Finally I came to a simple conclusion:

There are two meaningful ways to live.
One is to live your own life deeply.
The other is to extend your life into the next generation.
Both can be meaningful.

But whichever path we choose, the most important thing in life seems to be the same:
to love people, and to be loved.

중국 운남성